The 5 Most Beautiful Female Voices Of The '60s

Whenever some of the most celebrated music acts of the '60s are mentioned, one may first think of the many Motown stars who shot to fame or perhaps some of the psychedelic bands that graced stages, yet that decade also featured some of the most beautiful and stunning female voices in music history. Those artists influenced countless singers with either their range, extraordinary vocal precision, or both.

Of course, there's a long list of spine-tingling singers from the '60s, but the five that we selected possess an almost unattainable type of uniqueness, one that may be mimicked but never cloned, a voice that was seemingly given to them at birth and not just through rigorous training. Some of these artists sing with a soothing calmness, while others have blown audiences away with the range and power of their voices. From Etta James to Aretha Franklin, it's true that all of these artists have achieved major success, but they'll be remembered for their singing prowess over their many accomplishments.

At 5 years old, most kids' lifelong talent is still bubbling beneath the surface, and it usually starts to shine once they make a conscious decision to hone that natural ability. But by age 5, Etta James was already belting out tunes at Los Angeles' St. Paul Baptist Church as a member of the Echoes of Eden choir. Over time, her singing effectively combined power and gentleness, improvisation and control, as well as joy and pain — whether she sang blues, soul, R&B, gospel, or rock.

James poured all of her struggles and triumphs into each note, regardless of whether she was in the studio or on stage. Oftentimes, when a singer's voice is described as beautiful, it's associated with being light, perhaps dainty, but that wasn't James' style at all. She sang with pure emotion, belting out tunes from her heart as well as her gut, a quality that people seemed to admire the most.

"There's a lot going on in Etta James' voice," Bonnie Raitt once told Rolling Stone. "A lot of pain, a lot of life but, most of all, a lot of strength ... She can be so raucous and down one song, and then break your heart with her subtlety and finesse the next. As raw as Etta is, there's a great intelligence and wisdom in her singing." Some of James' most popular songs include "Something's Got a Hold on Me," "I'd Rather Go Blind," "Sunday Kind of Love," and "At Last," which is considered her signature song.

Much of the Carpenters' success can be attributed to the radiant, angelic, somewhat airy voice of Karen Carpenter. The naturally gifted vocalist wasn't always interested in singing, though, and becoming a professional artist wasn't something she dreamed of while first attending high school in Downey, California.

Carpenter actually became a drummer in those early days but later developed her singing chops, which brought critical acclaim along with commercial success, as she was regularly praised by music pundits and her fellow artists. Paul McCartney once called Carpenters' voice the best female voice on earth (via NPR), and Elton John pretty much mirrored those words to Rolling Stone, saying, "Karen Carpenter is one of the greatest voices of our life-time." If anything, Carpenter proved that one doesn't have to have a big, robust vocal delivery to pierce one's emotions; a singer can use a gentle, calming approach to bring out the best elements of a song. 

There are some voices that are so soulful, raw, and gospel-inspired that they can transport the listener to a Sunday morning church service. Gladys Knight certainly has one of those voices, as she's been able to go back and forth from expressing tenderness to strength with the greatest of ease.

Knight's singing ability made such a musical impact that it inspired huge stars like Chaka Khan, Alicia Keys, and Mariah Carey, who called her the prototype for all singers. "If you have the desire to sing, and you love R&B, she's like a textbook you learn from," said Carey when Knight and her group the Pips were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. "You hear her delivery and you wish that you could communicate with as much honesty and genuine emotion as she does, even on her very earliest records."

But as gifted a singer as Knight is, she doesn't solely rely on technical ability. She's a master at tapping into the true emotion of the song, which can be heard on cuts like "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," "Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me," and of course "Midnight Train to Georgia."

It's easy to get a feeling of comfort when listening to Astrud Gilberto, as her voice makes you feel like you're standing in a cool, refreshing mist of rain. On "The Shadow of Your Smile," for example, the title track to her 1965 album, Gilberto sings with gentle precision, allowing each note to land softly on the listener. On "Corcovado," featured on João Gilberto (her first husband) and Stan Getz's LP "Getz/Gilberto," her ethereal delivery brings a warm, sonic glow to the cut.

Then there's "The Girl from Ipanema," a song that made Gilberto a star, where she sings with a quiet confidence, yet sounds like she's barely even trying. Some of the artists who've been influenced by her whisper style include the pop star Billie Eilish and Suzanne Vega, who talked about Gilberto's influence with The Line of Best Fit, saying, "I think I first heard Astrud Gilberto on the radio and I just loved her voice right away ... She didn't have a high voice or sing with vibrato. Her voice was just as simple and raw as a little girl's, and that's how I wanted to sing."

If there's a singer who could bring you to your knees with her voice, then lift you right back up to your feet again in excitement, it was Aretha Franklin, a singer's singer — one whose voice was powerful enough to touch the people in the back row and controlled enough to leave those near the stage weeping. That ability came from her gospel background, as Franklin began singing at Detroit's New Bethel Baptist Church at 8 years old.

She also moved effortlessly through gospel, soul, R&B, jazz, blues, and pop, while still being able to make each song her own. But at the same time, Franklin was able to relay whatever feeling the songwriters wanted to convey, which is a delicate dance for any singer. Franklin even substituted for Luciano Pavarotti in 1998 at the 40th Grammy Awards and brought the house down by singing "Nessun dorma," proving once again her range of talent.

As for Franklin's many accomplishments, she's the first woman to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, had 73 songs chart on the Billboard Hot 100, sold over 84 million albums, and racked up 18 Grammy Awards. Some of the people who praised her voice are Patti LaBelle, Clive Davis, Willie Nelson, and Whitney Houston, who once said Franklin was the kind of singer that she always wanted to be.